Churches should be used by the whole community

Secular activities should not necessarily remain outside the church

Pews for thought: Tom Hollander as the vicar of a failing inner-city church in the BBC television series 'Rev’
Photo: LONDON MEDIA

6:58AM GMT 16 Feb 2014

SIR – Martin Rogerssays the proper place for social activities is not in church, but in the church hall.

We have two splendid medieval churches and two small, plain church halls. Dwindling congregations mean that the churches are used by fewer and fewer people for worship and the parish struggles to maintain its property.

A recent bequest has allowed the installation of modern facilities into the churches. Now both can be successfully used for events, some based on religion, many not, which hundreds of people attend.

Mr Rogers can still worship in these buildings, but only for as long as secular activities keep them afloat.

Michael Plumbe Hastings, East Sussex

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SIR – While churches are places for worship and prayer, they have each been built and maintained by their local communities, in some cases over many centuries. They belong to their community, not just the current congregation, and it is reasonable to expect that they are put to as much community use as is practical.

That way we can all, religious or otherwise, contribute to their upkeep and enjoy their amenity. Churches that do this set a good example to those yet to embrace all of their neighbours.

Graham R Brown Ampthill, Bedfordshire

SIR – We don’t have a church hall or a village hall. Where does Martin Rogers suggest we hold our social activities?

Hamish Hunter Bisham, Berkshire

SIR – Pews or chairs, robes or no robes, women bishops or no women bishops – the divisions in the Church of England go on and on. Has the Church forgotten Jesus’s primary instruction to go out and spread the Word?

Sitting, standing or lying down, jeans or copes, albs and mitres, male or female, internet, radio or television – it matters not a jot.

Duncan Rayner Sunningdale, Berkshire

SIR – Not only is the removal of pews to the detriment of prayer in churches, but unfortunately, to the concept of silence.

Chatter is totally out of place before a service and belongs in the church hall. To pray in church is now an ordeal.